WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Emily Zanleoni grabbed a stack of folders and started organizing them. To her right, a large calendar detailing the Hartford Community Coalition’s Take a Bite Out of Hunger program; to her left, five volunteers worked putting together meals at Hartford High School’s cafeteria for the places noted on the calendar.
This year, the Hartford Community Coalition, also known as HCC, is on pace to distribute 35,000 meals by the time Take a Bite Out of Hunger ends this Friday after eight weeks, said Zanleoni, who has served as the nonprofit organization’s part-time executive director since 2020. That eclipses last year’s 22,000 meals the organization distributed over seven weeks.
“Every year we grow,” Zanleoni said Tuesday at Hartford High School. “This year is no different due to the economy and partnerships.” This year, they’ve added more meal delivery sites, including expanded summer programs at schools in Hartford and Lebanon.
The program costs $150,000 to run, which is half of HCC’s budget, Zanleoni wrote in a follow-up email. While federal funding through the United States Department of Agriculture covers the majority of the program, HCC funds the remaining third through contributions from local and state foundations, as well as grants.
The USDA only provides money for neighborhoods that meet federal poverty guidelines. This summer, that was an annual income of $33,000 for a family of four, according to the agency’s 2026-2027 child nutrition program income eligibility guidelines. White River Junction and the White River School fall under those guidelines while Wilder, where Dothan Brook School is located, does not, Zanleoni said. HCC turns to foundations, among other donors, to make sure it can feed kids throughout Hartford.
HCC expanded Take a Bite Out of Hunger to Lebanon in 2024. It partners with the New Hampshire Food Bank and Lebanon Library, among other organizations, to distribute five-day meal bags to families who need them.
“My entire goal every year … is how can we better break down the barrier to access? We need to go where the kids are at,” Zanleoni said.
Volunteers and part-time staff prepare daily meals for 12 summer camp programs and summer school programs in Lebanon and Hartford, in addition to multiple neighborhoods where kids live in those towns.
It also operates weekly open sites — where anyone can drop by and grab food for their kids — once a week at the Lebanon Library, Hartford High School and White River School.
Last week, there were 51 kids signed up for five-day breakfast and lunch meal kits at Hartford High School during the meal site’s open hours. Last year, 30 was the record.
“That’s a significant increase,” Zanleoni said, adding that she doesn’t see it changing.
The program, now in its tenth year, grew out of conversations at the start of Hartford Community Coalition’s 2013 founding, Zanleoni said. While community members discussed how to support youth who were experiencing mental health challenges and substance misuse, other topics emerged, including food insecurity. Kids, they noted, weren’t getting meals in the summer like they were during the school year.
“What are these parents and caregivers doing all summer long?” Zanleoni recalled thinking. Hartford Community Coalition members decided to do something about it. Take a Bite Out of Hunger “grew from making just a few sandwiches every day in the White River School kitchen” to serving thousands of meals each summer.
Some of those meals go to children in grades K-5 enrolled at Creative Kids Adventures, a program director Sally Avery runs at Dothan Brook School in Wilder. Of the 45 kids enrolled in the program, which runs from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., 35 kids get meals through HCC.
“It’s providing meals for families who can’t provide for themselves,” Avery said as she arrived at Hartford High School to pick up meals.
It is the fourth summer Avery has turned to HCC to help provide summer meals. Previously, families were instructed to provide their children with food while they were at Creative Kids Adventures. While Avery always had food on hand for children who needed it, HCC providing meals has made a huge difference, in part, because it’s one less thing she has to manage.
Parents pay for their children to attend Creative Kids Adventures and around a quarter of families receive financial assistance to do so, Avery said.
“A lot of families still struggle,” she said, adding that they often prioritize paying for care. “They need after-school and summer camp so they can work.”
Take a Bite Out of Hunger could not run without volunteers, Zanleoni emphasized. One of the 15 volunteers who assist the program is Jan Pollack, who began packing meals in 2020 with her husband, Richard.
“This is just a little something we like to do to help our community,” Pollack of Quechee said while she packed meal bags.
She said she has been surprised by the amount of food insecurity that exists in the community.
“It really saddens you that with all the government assistance we supposedly have … that there would still be this food insecurity for kids,” she said.
Visit hccvt.org for more information about the Hartford Community Coalition.
